Is it possible to train our lab technician to perform balance calibrations?

[JudyJ]

We are an ISO 17025 testing lab. We have all of our balances calibrated externally by a number of different ISO 17025 calibration service companies (it varies because we have multiple locations) on a yearly schedule. We need to have balances calibrated for one of our new remote labs, but I don't want to send a service technician to a remote site to calibrate 2 or 3 balances. It's way too expensive. I don't think calibrating the balances at head office and transporting them to the remote location is feasable either, nor would it be acceptable by our auditors.
Is it possible to train our lab technician to perform balance calibrations? Would that be acceptable in an ISO audit? Any idea where we would get such training? Perferably in Canada or Northern US. Waht do others do for their remote locations? I know we are not the only company with small satilite labs servicing specific industries.

Thanks in advance for all the great help.
Judy

 

[Ron Rompen]

Is it possible? That depends a lot on the ability of your lab technician to learn how to do it, but the short answer is yes.
Is it acceptable to an auditor? Yes, if you can demonstrate that the tech has the ability to correctly perform the calibration (a training certificate from a 3rd party would be very appropriate here).
Who can do it? I would suggest contacting the supplier or manufacturer; tell them what you want, and ask if they can suggest training. I know that Starrett provides free in-house training for some calibration and adjustment procedures (well, they used to) but I don't think it extends to precision balances.
You may find, however, that the cost of training, plus equipment, plus spares, plus the NIST-traceable masters that you calibrate against (and that must in turn be calibrated regularly) may outweigh the cost of having your balances calibrated externally.

 

[Hershal]

As noted already, the short answer is yes.

Now the caveats.

Your mass standards (weights) since you are in Canada will be traceable through NRC. Made sure you have good documentation such as sending them to an accredited lab.

You must have validated procedures. There are several out there.

The technician must also be able to calculate the uncertainty including the Type B contributions of essentricity, local acceleration of gravity, barometric pressure, bouyancy, and other similar factors that affect scale/balance calibration.

Hope this helps.